


things you said at 1am

by wombatpop



Series: things you said [1]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Banter, Based on a Tumblr Post, Coming Out, Fluff, M/M, Peter is a mess, Sleepovers, some swears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 06:56:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15237867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wombatpop/pseuds/wombatpop
Summary: The hours tick by and it’s past midnight before the two boys make it to bed, both entering that stage of being awake where they’ve surpassed being tired and gone straight to no inhibitions, only bad decisions and immature jokes, where the urge to play truth or dare is never so strong, where secrets seem more alluring than they’ve ever been, simply demanding to be released into the wild.





	things you said at 1am

**Author's Note:**

> the 'things you said' series is based on a tumblr post by [eversncenewyork](http://eversncenewyork.tumblr.com/post/110395333021/send-me-a-ship-and-one-of-these-and-ill-write-a)

It was just meant to be a regular after school hangout, but after a couple of hours of assembling Ned’s latest Lego Star Wars acquisition, Peter knows Ned won’t be leaving any time soon.

“May?”

“Yeah?”

“Can Ned stay over?”

“Sure! If his parents say yes.”

Ned’s parents text back a quick, ‘no problem’, and Ned’s excitement for the evening’s Lego related exploits is clear in his grin. Peter reciprocates, with the flutter of nervous delight in the pit of his stomach whenever he sees Ned so happy, whenever Ned grins at him, like he’s in awe, like he’s the luckiest guy in the world.

The hours tick by and it’s past midnight before the two boys make it to bed, both entering that stage of being awake where they’ve surpassed tired and gone straight to no inhibitions, only bad decisions and immature jokes, where the urge to play truth or dare is never so strong, where secrets seem more alluring than they’ve ever been, simply demanding to be released into the wild.

“What do you think you’re gonna do after graduation?” Peter begins the inevitable delve into their respective psyches.

“I don’t know. More school, probably. I’ll just keep studying forever, and then no one can expect me to do anything.” Ned replies, and they both chuckle, the half-hearted chuckle of lungs with no energy left.

“What about you?”

“Hopefully the Stark Internship will-” “Oh yeah, the Stark Internship.”

“If we move away from each other after graduation, that’s gonna suck.” Ned says, and Peter hesitates, knowing the likelihood of his departure.

“Yeah, it is.”

“You’re like, my best friend. I’m really gonna miss you.” Peter’s stomach jumps again.

“I haven’t gone anywhere yet.”

“That’s true.” They chuckle again, and Peter feels like he has to fill the silence.

“I’ll miss you too, man.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you miss me more than Liz?”

“Oh, come on.” Peter had only been out for a couple of months, and Ned was still making jokes about his ‘crush’ on Liz, which turned out to be more about Peter trying to convince himself of his own heterosexuality than anything to do with Liz at all. Peter and Liz stayed friends, but it looked like Ned was going to hold Peter’s vehement declarations of attraction over him eternally.

“So that’s a yes?”

“I’m not answering that.” Peter says, but his heart is in his throat. It was just about the millisecond after he realised that he didn’t like Liz at all that he realised he liked Ned. Like, a lot.

“Wow, so rude.”

“You know I’d miss you.”

Peter can feel Ned’s smug little smirk through the darkness, and he can’t help but smile too.

“Yeah, I know. Who would you build Lego with?”  
There’s a short pause before Ned speaks again.  
“Liz wouldn’t build Lego with you.”

“Oh my god.” Peter puts his face in his pillow, and Ned chuckles.

“I’m just saying, Liz is great, but her interest in Lego? Zero. Very unhelpful.”

“Stop.” Peter can feel himself blushing.

“In terms of Lego building, you would definitely miss me more than Liz.”

“No comment.”

“That doesn’t require a comment, it was a statement.”

“You’re awful.”

“Oh come on, you love me.” Peter tries not to let his sharp intake of breath make too much sound.

“Yeah.”

“Did you just say, ‘yeah’?” Ned’s amused but Peter’s kicking himself.

“Maybe.”

“Okay.” Ned says, and there’s a lull that Peter spends internally screaming before Ned speaks again.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“How’d you know you weren’t straight?”

“Uhh…” Peter draws a blank and scrambles for an answer.  
“Well, I just kind of, thought about it, and one day, it just clicked. Like, oh. Of course.”

“Right.”

“But I thought about it a long time before that, like when I thought about girls, I didn’t really feel it, but when I thought about boys I felt everything. You know?”

“Yeah, I think I do know.”

Peter’s brain is malfunctioning, all cylinders firing at once, and his response is a surprised but mostly neutral, “oh!”, arguably one of the worst responses to coming out to someone, like there’s really any that are that good.

“So I guess this is my coming out.”

“Great!” He’s so unreasonably cheerful. As a fellow gay, you would think he would be better at this. But his heart’s beating in his ears, and his brain is screaming oh fuck so loud he has no room for coherent thoughts.

“I’m glad you’re so excited.”

“I… am. I’m glad. You’re my friend and I’m happy for you.” He’s fucking stammering.

“Thanks.” Ned sounds amused, so he’s not mad as Peter’s less than perfect responses. Peter tries to take a deep breath.

“Is that the only reason you’re glad?” Ned sounds tentative as he says it, and a hush falls over the room somehow, Peter’s screaming coming to an abrupt stop for a second before beginning again, somehow more urgent and panicked.

“I…” Peter begins, wrangling with his decision. Tell him, he clearly knows and wants you to say it! Don’t tell him, he’ll hate you and you’ll die!  
“Well I am glad… because…” Fuck it. 1am takes over and Peter makes his decision with little to no reasoning. If he dies, he dies.  
“I… like you.”

“Like, like-like me?” Ned sounds almost hopeful, and Peter pushes himself through his fight or flight response telling him to jump out the window.

“Yeah…” There’s a pause that feels like an hour before Ned finally speaks again.

“I like-like you too.” Peter starts shouting joyful expletives in his head but manages a, “really?”

“Yeah.” Ned says.

“Oh.” Somehow, in his overwhelming delight at Ned’s answer, Peter’s fight or flight response is still going strong, but he seems to begin to regain the ability for rational thoughts again.  
“What happens now?” Peter asks.

“I don’t know, you’re the veteran gay in the room.”

“Veteran gay? I’ve been out for like a month.”

“Veteran.”

“I guess, you wanna go out sometime? Like a date?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

Peter turns over and grins himself to sleep. On the bottom bunk, Ned balls his hands into fists, whispering ‘yessssss’ to himself, quiet enough that he knows Peter won’t hear.


End file.
